As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Business and institutional customers ordering information handling systems often require that information handling systems arrive with pre-installed software. Such software often allows the information handling systems to be compatible with a customer's existing computers, programs and network.
Modular information handling system such as a blade server with multiple blades present particular challenges in efficiently and reliably installing software requested by a customer. Multi-blade servers may perform a variety of tasks including storing data or programs, running administrative software and providing resources to workstations on a network. Multi-blade servers typically include midplanes for attaching multiple blades (sometimes referred to as “bricks”). Midplanes allow the multiple blades to be interconnected in a single chassis and to share a common power source. Each blade typically includes a processor and memory and may store data, process information, or perform particular tasks.
Blades in a modular information handling system communicate with other networked computing resources through an embedded switch associated with the midplane. The embedded switch is able to connect with a network and direct information packets between individual blades and different network addresses.
Existing methods for installing software onto modular information handling systems involved manually configuring the embedded switch for installation of software onto each blade. Such systems for installing software are inefficient as they require operator involvement during the installation of software onto each blade. Additionally, installation of software onto each modular server is often time-consuming because software is typically required to be installed on each blade, increasing the overall amount of software loaded onto a modular information handling system as compared with a non-modular information handling system.